Hindutva advocate Subramanian Swamy’s recent article in an Indian daily — in which he suggested revoking the voting rights of Indian Muslims — has prompted demands to have him fired from Harvard’s faculty for bigotry.
Swamy teaches economics at the Harvard Summer School, where he
is currently stationed. In India, he leads the Janata Party.

Over 260 Harvardians — among them faculty and non-faculty members, students and even parents — have called for Swamy’s ouster in a petition to be submitted for investigation Monday. “We will give this matter our serious attention,” dean Donald H Pfister said in an emailed statement.

In a July 16 article on combating terror in the newspaper, DNA, Swamy proposed disenfranchising Muslims unless they proudly declare their alleged Hindu ancestry and declare India a “Hindu Rashtra (state)”, apart from demolishing 300 mosques.

“Swamy breaches the most basic standards of respect and tolerance,” said a petition initiated by Umang Kumar, a Harvard Divinity School student, and Sanjay Pinto, a PhD candidate.

Swamy couldn’t be reached for comment, but the Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, quoted him as saying: “Back in India, there has been wholesale support (for the article).”

Swamy earned his PhD in economics in 1965 from Harvard, where he has held several faculty positions. If the bigotry charges are established, he could be barred from the US.